Burda Style Pattern Magazine

Hello everyone. I've finally managed to locate a supplier for Burda Style magazine in English, yes English not Dutch which is oh so very rare ! The June issue has just been released so please email me if you are interested. Each month the magazines has full sized patterns for modern high street style blouses, dresses, pants and skirts and a few children ones too. They have also started including a designer dress pattern each month, really worth it. These magazines really sell out like hot cakes so please let me know asap. It's Rm57 plus postage and will be sent out end July when I come home yeahhhhh. 

Please please hurry, once gone its gone forever. 

The Most Beautiful Shop In The World!

Well, in my eyes that is. What am I talking about? It's Liberty of London !! 

I only started seeing the Liberty name once I started blog walking among the serious seamstress, they keep talking about liberty lawn and how buttery it was to sew etc. So one fine rainy weekend we decided to head west to London, taking the Euro Tunnel with our car from Calais, the crossing only took 35 minutes, aah the wonder of modern technology. One minute you are saying Bonjour, 35 minutes later its Good day mate ! Awesome. 

Even if you don't sew, if you're in London, please please head down to the Liberty store. It is gorgeous on the outside and once you're inside, believe me, you'll be oohing and aahing the whole time while feeling depressed that you're not dripping with pound sterling :)

The facade is a black and white Tudor like manor building. Beautiful yes. Nearest tuib stop is Oxford Circus, red central line and blue Victoria line on Oxford Street. Head south on Regent Street and Liberty will be 100 m or so on your left. Now, let me show you the insides!

I think there's about 5 floors of exquisite items! It's a department store in itself but they have maintained the or maybe refurbished the old interiors.

Yes and the above are the lucious liberty cotton lawns. Now I know where the term English Cotton comes from. But Liberty lawn is oh so soft and light and almost feels like silk, it even has a shimmery sheen. I think I spent almost an hour just touching the bales and bales of luciousness :-)

Guess how much these shirts made from the same fabrics above cost ? 89 pound sterling!! 

The store is divided into rooms just like in a house and each room is full of beautiful things .

And so finally, what did I come out of there with ? :-)

Yes, of course, what else would you expect :-) only bought 1.5 mtrs of each to make a top and 0.5 of the pink for a top for shasha. Did I mention they cost 21 pounds / mtr ?!

Am keeping them till I know exactly what to do with them, my precious indeed ! 

So, if you go, let me know whether or not you agree that it's the most beautiful shop in the world ! 

Istanbul Shopping

Shopping ,shopping, shopping, what else is a woman to do :-) I always tell myself that No, I don't need anything else to clutter up this little house of mine, but then when you see something pretty on your travels, you say to yourself " I can't get that back home, and it's so worth it !" haha, yes and that's how we always end up with more things than we need , sigh.

But I have to tell you, istanbul is an amazing haven for shoppers, you can get basically anything. As long as you're prepared to bargain your throat sore, I really recommend it! Here are some of the places I discovered, hope you enjoy the pictures .

First stop, The Grand Bazaar ! 

Beyazit tram stop

A covered old mall purported to house 4000 shops! Mostly ceramics, clothes, jewelery and of course beautiful Turkish Carpets. I found prices to be really inflated so bargain like mad. If you have no intention to buy carpets, decline all offers to even a look see, because once they have you in their clutches, you'll find your wallet much lighter ! 

Spice Bazaar

Eminonu tram stop

Head towards the new mosque and the spice bazaar is in a covered building. This one again is huge and linked to the Grand Bazaar. Beautiful spices and organic tea, especially beautiful saffron. I've never really liked Turkish Delights, but you have to try the real stuff. Buy the fresh ones and they're gorgeous. My fav is the one made with pomegranate juice and pistachios, yum.

Yes, stacks and stacks of yarn!! I've gotten a bit mad with crocheting and knitting lately and I really wanted to see this market (Han ). It was amazing, mostly were acrylic though, but there were some nice wool and mixed blend yarns and really cheap. Just keep asking the locals direction to Kurkcu Han, be prepared for the crowds, we were practically shuffling, it's more of a local market. This place is again behind the New Mosque at Eminonu, near the Spice Bazaar.

Aha, on my way to the Spice Bazaar I stumbled on this street , shop after shop of fabrics! I was a bit stressed though, had the 3 kiddos and hubby with me, so I only managed to ogle at all those fabrics! I did right at the endgo in one shop and grabbed 3 cotton prints :-) yes, am still a fabricholic! 

Istanbul also has many modern malls and shopping streets. They had a lot of the European brands. The must see area is Taksim Square / Medan Taksim with Istiklal Street being the major shopping street.  This place also opens on  Sunday's whereas the old  area does not.  We went to Cevahir Mall, located at Sisli metro stop, beautiful modern mall, seems one of the largest in the world! 

In the background is the New Mosque at Eminonu. I really recommend this Cafe Saray, really yummy food with amazing Turkish desserts and the reasonable prices too, considering that it's right smack in a busy touristy area.

My 3 pieces of cotton , bought under duress ! 

Already missing Istanbul, definitely will have to go again :-) 

That's it for Istanbul shopping. Whatever you do, make sure you do your shopping in town, the prices at Antaturk Airport is 4x that in town and they quote in Euros, horrible.

Amazing Istanbul

Hello, weather here in Holland has been depressing 😒 Well I guess it is spring, so rain , rain rain! I desperately needed some sun, so since KL was just too far away, we decided to visit Istanbul ! I've heard so much about how beautiful and amazing Istanbul is so I was really excited. True to all the testimonies , it is an amazing city, a heady mix of western and eastern cultures. Very modern in certain parts but still able to maintain its rich Ottoman heritage in its old quarters. I'd like to share here this amazing city.

I'll start with the Old City, that is the crux of Istanbul and the centre of the Ottoman empire. Travelling by metro and tram is really the best way to go. Traffic is really horrendous and in the Old City, streets are narrow. The tram stop to get off at is Sultanahmet. 

Blue Mosque

Aya Sofia

These two amazing structures are directly opposite from one another. If you plan to visit the Aya Sofia museum, make sure to go early, the que was a mile long ! From here, follow the tram line back down the hill and you will reach the entrance to Topkapi Palace, be prepared to climb another steep hill 😊

Topkapi Palace

This Ottoman palace is set on beautiful grounds, there's also a massive que to enter even at the ticket counter. After visiting Sultanahmet, I would really recommend a few days if you intend to enter any of the buildings. 

We decided to try an authentic ottoman meal at The Han restaurant just down the hill from Sultanahmet, Gulhane tram stop, gorgeous decor and yummy dishes ! 

My boys all tired out from the day of walking ! 

I had spiced lamb and Mr J had Doner

I noticed that Turkish meals are always accompanied by both rice and potatoes.

A map of Istanbuls Old City

Ok folks, stay tuned for Shopping in Istanbul !!!!

Girls and Laces

Girls and Laces 

Shasha was so excited about her class concert last week and she had been working so hard with her choir practices , I decided to make her a dress fit for the occasion. It's been so long since I've made her a proper twirly kind of dress that I nearly forgot how to go about it! 

So here it is, the works ! Tucks on the bodice, lace collar, puffed sleeves with lace and piping, full gathered skirt and more lace! 

I love how she's always so serious and pays attention, no fidgeting this one. 

Those are handmade Belgium lace collars, they were just too pretty to use ! I said that once she's grown out of the dress, those collars are coming off haha. I bought them in a beautiful little shop by the water in Gent, a medieval University town with an old ruined castle and winding canals along real cobbled streets.

Weather here has been great, spring has finally shown up, tulips will be coming out soon , and yes, we can finally eat ice cream outside !

Love from Rotterdam !!

An Owl For Carolina

Danny's class mate had a birthday party coming up and I was racking up my brain for something to get her. Here, you can't get much for 10euro, 5euro would be even more impossible  ! So I started googling around for appropriate gifts and stumbled upon the OWL. I've seen it crop up a few times on the net and thought how adorable it was , now, I thought it would make the perfect gift for a 7 year old girl. It took only about an hour , I used scrap corduroy for the body and wings and felt for the eyes and beak and filled it with cushion filler.

What do you think, I think she's adorable. Carolina's mom told me she loved it, phew that made it worthwhile. Now Danny is jealous and he wants one too haha. 

Thank you for this awesome free pattern Ashley, the pattern download is here. Not only did I save by using up some scraps but I made one little girl very happy, now that, you can't beat !

Love

Princess Closet !!